Knog rackless panniers review

On the recommendation of bicycling magazine and my own interest in nicely designed bags I got Knog Rackless Pannier system: the Neat dog.

The idea being I wanted to move my load from my back to my bike but still didn't want to go through the process of using a seatpost rack and standard panniers. The selling point for me was the "rackless pannier system": using a series of mounts and brackets the bag has an internal frame that joins with the clips and so when removed all you have on your bike is the clips.

Being what I term a fast short distance commuter (10miles each way / +20mph average pace) I felt this suited my needs, allowing me to use my litespeed siena as both a weekend fitness / town line sprint machine and a weekday commuting to work machine.

Ultimately after search for reviews and finding none I got one anyway and my review is this:

don't do it.

This bag is amazing, beautifully made and designed, chic and urban, full of details and useful parts. The mounting system is pure ****. Glorified screw zip ties around brackets that do not work with the geometry of road bikes (not sure what they are designed for but the more relaxed the angle of your seatstays get the worse it will work, ultimately it touched my saddle and took a huge effort to get on and off).

For such an expensive piece of commuting bling it comes with 50cents of clips to hold it to your frame and frankly the last thing I want between me and my loaded bag is 50 cents worth of zip ties and using it as a standard pannier is out of the question due to the internal frame.

Anyone else had any experience with these bags? am I doing something wrong?

I suspect I will just suck it up and continue with the wrinkled shirts and pants and my Timbuk2 messenger bag.

oh and the bag? It will be going back to Quality with a note recommending they rethink carrying the Knog rackless pannier bags in general.

FWIW I sent a email to their company stating the same thing. I haven't heard back but I can't imagine that they have anything to say that will convince me this is a good idea at all but if they do I will report back and revise this thread

Damn. I was really hoping this would be worth it and starting to figure out where i was going to order one of these. Is there any conceivable way to make the rack mounting system work well? The concept would mate up perfectly with my commutting pattern.

depending on your bike you could make it work. My slightly sloping geometry road bike has too little seat stay and too steep of an angle on intersection between the seatstay and the seat tube. I am going to try some little hose clamps instead of the provided plastic hose clamps. One other problem I have is my seat stays are not round but airfoil shaped which interfaces poorly with the round interface of the bracket.

I am going to give it another shot tonight with hose clamps before i send it back. I will take pictures when I do it and post them up.

I have been using the boxer rackless panniers 4+days a week since in August, and I've had no trouble. My recommendation is to try and put the attachingthings as low as possible on the frame. As for the plastic clamps, I've used three cable ties on each bracket instead. So far I have had no trouble at all.

I have been using the boxer rackless panniers 4+days a week since in August, and I've had no trouble. My recommendation is to try and put the attachingthings as low as possible on the frame. As for the plastic clamps, I've used three cable ties on each bracket instead. So far I have had no trouble at all.

thanks for the advice. I can just barely get the rack onto my seatstays completely but have yet to determine whether I can a) clear it with my heels in this location and b) actually get it to fit in that location. Gonna give it a go this weekend.

Problem I have is I do not have round seatstays but instead aero shape which provides a very thin aspect to the mounts.